Your territory? This is Thunderclan territory! Rogues don't have their own territories!" Cinderpaw spat at the strange cat with the curled ears. The cat curled her lip, looking miffed. "How dare you call me a rogue! My name is Mango, and I am the ruler of the forest!" she screeched. "Ruler of the Forest! Starclan rules the forest and the rest of the clan territories! Now go home, before I unleash my intense warrior training on you!" Cinderpaw shouted, but suddenly remembered that all she knew was how to act like she was hunting. "I have no idea what a Starclan is, or a warrior, or a clan, but I'm trying to enjoy my potty break, thank you very much. This could be the last time my housefolk let me out for a while…." Mango trailed of, cringing. Cinderpaw blinked. Housefolk? That was a kittypet word. The fierce cat in front of her was a kittypet?
Suddenly another cat streaked out of the trees and skidded to a stop behind Cinderpaw. "How dare you set foot on my territory! I'll-" "Oh shut up, Mango." Said Cinderpaw, turning to the cat who had just collapsed panting on the forest floor. It was Maplepaw. "Maplepaw, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training with Heatherfire?" she asked. "That's the thing. See, she wanted me to catch a squirrel, but I couldn't do it!" Maplepaw cried. "Aw, that's ok. It takes practice. I just had an epic fail myself…." Said Cinderpaw, glancing at the broken tree branch at her paws. "No, not like that. I couldn't as an, I couldn't bring myself to kill it." Maplepaw whimpered. "Oh… Well, Maplepaw, You eat squirrels and birds and things every day. It's no different." Cinderpaw consoled. "Yes it is! When I'm eating the animal it's already dead. I'm not taking a life, in fact, I always thank the animal for sacrificing its life to feed me. If I can't hunt I'll never be a warrior…"
Cinderpaw stared sadly at her downcast friend. Mango cleared her throat. "Hi, yeah, sorry but if I wanted to watch drama I could look at me housefolk's picturebox. It's all they ever seem to do anyway." Maplepaw lifted her head up. "Who's this?" "I am Mango, Ruler of the Fo-" "Mango! Shut your mousehole!" Cinderpaw snapped. "Just some kittypet I found. When Riverblossom comes back I'll turn it in." Suddenly, there was a crashing in the bracken behind the cats and Maplepaw cringed, expecting Heatherfire. Riverblossom burst through the trees, a vole hanging limply in her jaws. "Oh Cinderpaw, you should have seen me! I mean, you should have seen me catch the vole, not do my business. Great teaching material. Again, talking about the vole thing." Riverblossom laughed, but trailed off when she saw the two other cats. "Maplepaw, why aren't you with Heatherfire? Who's the cat with the ears?" Cinderpaw explained everything to her mentor. "Hmmm…" Riverblossom hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know what to do about Mango, let's just take her to Coalstar. As for you," she said, turning to Maplepaw. 'I do not want to be you when Heatherfire finds you. Come on, let's head back to camp."
Riverblossom led the three young cats through the forest back to the camp. Mango kept screaming about how "the Ruler of the Forest cannot be held hostage!" and other obscenities. Finally, the group returned to the camp. Some elders sharing tongues by the fresh kill pile looked up sharply when Riverblossom dropped the vole in the pile. Mango's screaming alerted many cats who peered curiously out of their dens. Coalstar came out of his den too, and Heatherfire followed. Cinderpaw felt Maplepaw tense. "Who is this?" Coalstar asked, examining Mango, who curled her lip at him. "Some kittypet that Cinderpaw found, keeps calling herself Ruler of the forest. I call her a loon." Riverblossom explained. Coalstar knelt down. "Why were you in the forest and not in your twoleg den?"
Mango perked up at the prospect of speaking some more. "My housefolk let me into the backyard to use the potty, and I smelled mouse, so I ran off to chase it. I haven't eaten in a couple days because all my housefolk do are look at their picturebox." She explained. Coalstar leaned in towards Riverblossom. "What's a picturebox?" he whispered out the side of his mouth. "No idea." "What about a potty?" Riverblossom whispered something into Coalstar's ear. "Oh!" he exclaimed, realizing what it was. Mango eyed the fresh kill pile hungrily. Coalstar noticed and spoke up. "I will never turn down a cat in need, especially when we have so much extra food. Help yourself." He said. Mango ran towards the fresh kill pile and began to devour a mouse.
Coalstar chuckled and turned to his daughter, his face suddenly stern. "I named you Maple because you were the color of leaves just before leafbare. Now, it seems that the Maple leaf blew away from its tree." He said nodding towards Heatherfire. "Tell me, why was today so windy?" Maplepaw was obviously the only one who understood her father's metaphor, because she did not participate in the questioning glance the other cats shot at each other. "Well, you see father…I can't….I can't …..I….." Maplepaw suddenly began to wail, and bolted into the apprentice den. Her father stared after her. "Oh dear." muttered Rainpatter, padding up beside her mate.
Mango returned with sparrow feathers sticking out of her mouth. "Yum, this is much better than the food I got every other week back home." She said. Rainpatter looked shocked. "My dear, every other week? No wonder you are so skinny!" Mango licked her lips and muttered "I hate back home." Coalstar looked at his mate, then at the feeble orange cat, then the apprentice den. "Hmmm, well I suppose you can stay for tonight, but tomorrow I will have someone escort you back to Twolegplace, is that understood?" Mango nodded, feathers landing in the dirt. Cinderpaw led Mango into the apprentice den and showed her to an empty nest beside the one Maplepaw was curled up in, sleeping. "You can sleep here tonight, Mango. Mango? Mango!" she shouted . "Huh, what? Oh, yeah, thanks Cinderpaw. I just saw something outside and….got sidetracked." Cinderpaw looked in the direction Mango had been staring. All she saw was Sandpaw inspecting an Elder's fur. Cinderpelt shrugged and left the den.
She grabbed a squirrel and sat beside Thunderpaw to eat. "Hey." She said. Thunderpaw looked surprised that she sat with him. "Uh, hey." They sat in silence as Cinderpaw gobbled down her food. "So, how was your day?" Thunderpaw asked, trying to start a conversation. "Weird. Do you know what a potty is?" Thunderpaw burst into a fit of giggles, but shook his head no. Cinderpaw once again called him a weirdo. After she finished her meal she padded into the Apprentice den and settled down to sleep.
Maplpaw tossed and turned as she dreamed. She was in the air, looking down on the thunderpath. A much younger Coalstar was sitting on one end, and a beautiful white she-cat was sitting on the other side with two kits. "Are you ready, Coalstream?" she asked, picking up one of her kits. Coalstar-or Coalstream at the time nodded. The white she-cat bolted across the thunderpath and set down the kit. Maplepaw thought the brown kit looked familiar, but couldn't think of where she had seen him. The she-cat began to cross the thunderpath again, but when she was halfway to the other end, a horrible noise Maplepaw had only heard from a distance started up. The two grown cats yowled simultaneously, then Maplepaw woke up with a start. Mango slept soundly next to her, and Cinderpelt on the other side. "It's just a dream." Maplepaw said. "Only medicine cats and their apprentices get dreams from Starclan. Nothing to stress over…."